AIFF steers clear of controversy ahead of AGM

New Delhi: Even as controversy rages over alleged irregularities in elections of various national sports bodies, the AIFF on Wednesday made it clear that the football federation will be in sync with the government`s Sports Code while conducting its AGM here on Thursday.

The AIFF is holding its AGM against the backdrop of the Delhi High Court`s order to follow the government`s Sports Code while conducting the polls.

As reported by PTI, the All India Football Federation will be effecting a major reshuffle, which will see induction of three new vice-presidents as well as members from the five zones, but the top two posts -- that of president and vice-president -- will remain unchanged.

While Praful Patel will be elected unopposed as president, east zone`s senior vice-president Subrata Dutta will retain his post. Both will be entering their second term.

"The federation is very much following the sports code. Even the observer for the election was finalised in the first week of November, in the AIFF`s last executive committee meeting. It is very much a transparent system. Whatever falls under the purview of sports code, we are following them," an AIFF official told PTI.

The Delhi HC had yesterday asked the football body to follow National Sports Development Code in its polls and the AIFF maintained that the elections would be held in accordance with that.

Barely two days before the elections, the HC, acting on an application filed by lawyer-activist Rahul Mehra, asked the AIFF to conduct the polls under the government`s Sports Code.

The court said the irregularities, if any, in the election processes be brought to the notice of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which, in turn, may take the requisite steps.

Besides rendering a person older than 70 years ineligible to contest the poll for a sports body office, the sports code also stipulates that no person elected to any office consecutively for three terms with each term being of four years would be eligible to contest the poll.

The ministry had recently de-recognised the Archery Association of India (AAI) and suspended the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) for not following the National Sports Code in their elections.